That calls for an Awareness + Perception (search and sight apply as specialities); 3+ to see all that has been described to others; 6+ to immediately spot one more brigand, 12+ for a complete overview.
(I miscalculated the attack total on that first arrow. It should have been 15 instead of 11. That may make a difference on the severity of the wound.)
Popping back behind the rock, Telsa quickly moves back a few paces to a different position, trying to keep the rock between them to hide her movements.
Vulture-Thom, winging back toward Iago and his group, looks about to see if he can spot more brigands.
[Awareness + Per Roll: 10]
(I compensated for your miscalculation by forgetting soak myself, @Arthur , so all is well.)
The man pauses for a while, looking around for danger, and then she starts slowly to withdraw down the valley, parallel to the path. Telsa would have withdrawn away from the path.
Thom, and Cath'rinne if she makes the same die roll, observe the wounded man withdrawing. On the opposite side of the path, another man seeks high ground to get an overview. He has bow and arrow in his hand, but he has not pulled it back to fire. He tries to avoid being seen by the party on the path, but does not heed the birds¹.
Thom can also see another archer, croached between the rocks where the wounded man is heading.
¹ Sasso spots him on a 9+, Telsa on a 12+. The party on the path on an 18+.
Vulture-Thom wings over toward the man seeking high ground. When he gets near enough, he again casts Call to Slumber [Roll 14. No voice, no gesture - 15. Successful formulaic? Does -1 succeed or does it need to be higher than that?]
L10 spells fail on -1; the roll has to be at most ten short of the level.
The man looks up at the shrieking vulture¹. The arrow automatically follows his gaze,
¹ It has to make a sound for a voice spell to reach the target.
Iago fails the 18+ spot roll with a 7 of that required
He hears the shriek of the vulture behind him though, but otherwise he is in the dark. The vultures are certainly busy, but with what? He would also have heard the shout in a foreign male voice half a minute early, but could not make out the words.
Frustrated, Thom wings away to where Iago and the caravan group are located. He transforms back to his human form, naked, and walks over to Iago.
"There are brigands laying an ambush. Be ware!"
Thom then casts Wizard's Sidestep on himself [ReIm 10 Formulaic. Roll:13]. Once done he begins to cast Doublet of Impenetrable Silk...and then stops with a short chuckle as he looks down at his unclad body.
"Well shit."
The naked Merinita then quickly points out where brigands were spotted including the sleeping bow-less archer.
1 Like
Telsa does not notice the other man, though she comes close (roll of 11), but Sasso does (roll 12). Like his sister, his reflex is to bring up his bow and shoot an arrow at him. (Attack roll of 12)
As Thom flies away, the man is hit by Sasso's arrow. He turns and looks in Sasso's direction, pulling his bow, ready to fire. Stealth roll difficulty 12 to go unseen, and defense roll against an attack of 11 if stealth fails.
(reading Sasso's die rolls on discord)
For a moment, Sasso and the enemy look eye to eye. Reading the situation, Sasso ducks behind a rock just as the arrow is released, and it hits just were he stood. The archer ducks for cover too, and howls like a wolf. It sounds like panic in the howl.
Sasso gets seen (6), but easily dodges the incoming arrow (16). Unconsciously mirroring his sister again, he moves back a few paces, ideally behind cover, and either takes another shot at the man or waits for him to come after Sasso to take the second shot.
Sasso can no longer see the archer.
All of these events happened within few rounds, and Cath'rinne can see it all, the two enemies and the two Pomeranians engaging and disengaging to seek cover. Awareness + Perception 12+ to spot the third brigand that Thom spotted on Telsa's side of the path, and 15+ to spot anything new. Telsa and the spearman are both heading South, parallel to the path, and they are likely to find crossing paths. Sasso is backing off, also South parallel to the path, while the archer whom he shot is staying put at the minute, seen only from the air.
Sasso can roll another Awareness + Perception, difficulty 10, though nothing will happen until Cath'rinn is up to date.
Sasso retreats towards the group, trying to angle to higher ground if possible in order to see the brigands coming. He suspects that they will flee if given the chance, and his job today is to protect the group, not hunt the brigands down. He will take a shot if an opportunity arises. (Awareness/alertness roll of 12)
That is pretty much the same for Telsa. (Awareness/alertness roll of 7)
From the air, it is eery how the twins' movement mirror each other, when you know they aren't communicating at the moment.
Iago swaps to his longbow and awaits any targets of opportunity. He stays with the pack animals.
My awareness check is 18. I'll wait on results to say what I do.
Cath'rinne sees a total of five brigands; two on each side of the path, plus the one put to sleep further up the valley. The archer who was shot has sought cover and listens out for events. Further down-valley, another woman with spear and sling has become aware of the situation and turned to look towards the archer. Sasso was backing towards her.
On the other side, there is an archer down-valley from where the spearman was shot. He has also turned to look, bow ready to shoot. The spearman seems to be moving towards him.
Cath'rinne targets the spearmen whom Sasso is backing towards with a Rego Mentem effect base 15 "Control a human being as long as you can see him." +2 voice, +1 conc effect. She rolled a 0 for spont casting but did not botch (rolled 1 die, cautious sorcerer). She will spend one confidence to kick the roll to 30, so this effect costs her 1+3 fatigue, placing her at dazed. She will direct her to attack the nearest brigand, hoping for a surprise attack. Is that the shot archer?
Just as Sasso is deciding to turn and advance on the archer, he hears someone approaching him from behind. He turns and sees a woman armed with a spear. She moves a little clumsily, and not like what he would expect from an ambush crew, but it takes folk ken+perception 9+ to notice the blank and mind-less eyes; though 6+ gives an impression that she is not really looking for Sasso.
The vulture is hovering overhead.
What did Telsa do? I thought she was following the spearman, but looking back, I did not find a clear statement.